Outland Denim Case Study 25 Jan PDF

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Outland Denim: A Sustainable, Modern, Slavery Free Brand -Dr. Kanika Meshram

The ready-made garment (RMG) industry is one of the top five industries rife with gender inequality, environmental degradation, and human rights abuse (Walk Free Foundation, 2020). The rise of fast fashion, which relies on cheap manufacturing and short-lived garment use, has a severe environmental impact. The UN estimates that textile production alone produces 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases every year and that 10 percent of total global emissions come from the RMG industry (Hermann, 2017). Similarly, the global fast fashion industry is often called out for their exploitative working conditions in its outsourced factories that are staffed primarily by impoverished women, especially from Asia (Nova, 2012). Testimonies from garment workers working in the factories of global brands such as Gap and H&M, recalled how their employer made lunch contingent on finishing “urgent pieces.” Even opportunities for short breaks — such as going to the bathroom or getting a drink of water — were often withheld by their supervisors as a disciplinary measure (Alliance, 2018). The economic logic of the fashion industry for ignoring such coerced labour practices in their supply chain is the insatiable hunger for cost cutting and fast production to push sales. Against this industry backdrop, Outland Denim Pty. Ltd. stands out as the world’s most ethical and sustainable denim product. Their unique business model hinges on employing formerly enslaved, vulnerable young women and empowering them to be seamstresses in their factory. Such work opportunities, training and living wages ensures that their garment workers do not get trafficked back into slavery or other forms of exploitations. While creating a slaveryfree supply chain, Outland also realized that denim is one of the biggest environment polluters. The denim-making process requires large amounts of water, the indigo dyes pollute water systems, and sandblasting denim for its “distressed cool look” causes lung cancer in garment workers (Riddselius, 2010). Because of this, Outland took extra steps to ensure that every element of their supply chain from cotton farms to packaging, is organic with relevant ecocertification. Outland’s social impact focus and unique brand story has garnered them free celebrity endorsements from the likes of Meghan Markle and Leonardo DiCaprio. Thus, this denim company has managed to appeal to all types of fashion consumers —environmentally conscious, ethically conscious and consumers wanting celebrity endorsed high end denim.

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Company Background. Outland Denim Pty. Ltd. commenced operations in 2016 and gained B-Corporation status in record time by 2018. It is a premium denim brand set up as an economic solution to end modern slavery or, as their website states, “denim to end poverty.” Outland was founded by James Bartle, CEO, after a pilot development period of six years. James was a motorcycle stunt rider and did not have any experience in the RMG industry. It was during a trip to Thailand that he was confronted by the startling reality that victims rescued from sex trade did not find sustainable employment opportunities. He started his denim manufacturing business to provide gainful employment to such victims. The brand presents its jeans as a solution to humanitarian crises. Approximately 80 percent of Outland Denim’s workers are women from vulnerable backgrounds (e.g., have a disability, were living on the streets, are rescued sex workers, etc). Their e-marketing campaign reads: By purchasing a pair of Outland Denim jeans, a girl you don’t know is right now being saved from a life of abuse and exploitation and learning skills that can help change their future! How many people can say that about their jeans? Outland Denim operate from their head office on the Gold Coast, Australia. They have manufacturing facilities in Kampong Cham province in Cambodia as well as the (ecofriendly) denim washing facility in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Marketing Mix of Outland Denim The CEO of Outland Demin chose to make jeans as a social impact product because, “jeans are foundation to a wardrobe” rather than “throw-away items”. The company limits their core collection to just 45 pieces to control landfills from throwaway clothes. They use packaging from Print Together, a sustainable printing company that focuses on saving the world’s virgin rainforests by using only post-consumer recycled paper. The customers of Outland Denim are predominantly women aged 25–45 years. Their denim falls under the premium denim range from A$99 to A$385. They compete with premium sustainable denim such as Nobody Denim, Nudie, MUD Jeans, and Warp + Weft. Outland, mostly sell through their website and major retail stores like David Jones as well as independent boutiques globally. They sell both women’s and men’s jeans. Apart from denim, they make shirts, shorts, dresses, and denim jackets. The Harriet jean is one of Outland Denim’s most popular women’s jeans. This jean was worn by former Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle during her 2018 official tour of Australia. Outland is ranked as A+ by Baptist World Aid’s Ethical Brand Ranking. In year 2019, this brand received the prestigious Global Sustainable For Principles of Marketing Students Only

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Development Goal Award. They are the first brand to receive EcoAge brandmark. To date, they have sold more than 30,000 pairs of jeans and generated sales revenue of AU$1.97 million (Outland Denim, 2020).

Marketing Challenges in Light of Covid-19 pandemic Despite their accolades and sustainability focus, Outland faces marketing challenges similar to other denim brands. The Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing measures has made customers more conscientious of their spending. At the same time, it has accelerated shoppers to buy their clothes digitally (Bianchi et al., 2020). Although Outland, does most of its sales through their e-commerce site, they need a short-term (1-2 years) and long-term plan (3 years or more) to educate, excite and be relevant in Covid-19 pandemic to all types of fashion consumers: environmentally conscious, ethically conscious and fashion conscious. Here are their four marketing mix challenges. You choose to work on any two challenges.

Pricing Challenge In light of the Covid-19 pandemic many fashion retailers are faced with difficult decision about whether it’s still financially viable for them to re-open. A Boston Consultancy Report suggested that online shopping has surged due to the pandemic. However, their report also claims that this surge is not enough to erase the damage done by store closings and economic worries, which caused people to curtail spending on nonessential goods (Bianchi et al., 2020). The pandemic is especially damaging for mid to high-priced fashion brands like Outland. Unlike other high-end fashion brands, Outland’s price range is justified due to their investment in slavery-free and sustainable supply chain. Hence the first challenge for Outland is to find an attractive pricing strategy to boost sales and make their denim attractive for consumers online. 1. What price models can Outland adapt to boost their online sales during the pandemic and staying with their price range of above $100 AUD denim?

Product Challenge The second challenge faced by Outland is supporting customers during the difficult process of buying jeans online. Its universal truth that most customers avoid buying jeans or perhaps wear their old pair, “till death do us part’ kind of way, because buying jeans is a nightmare. Also, people from different cultures have different body shapes. For example, people from Northern Europe have larger and leaner bone structure than people from Southern Europe. Similarly, Asian women have slimmer bone structure than South-east Asian women. Then again, not all For Principles of Marketing Students Only

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fashion brands adhere to sizing standards. For example, size 8” for Zara means 27.6” in the waist, but for Calvin Klein it means 29.5. Clothing sizes also connect with bigger issues like body image, inclusion and diversity. Despite e-commerce and sizing apps like 3D body scan, or MTailors, the apparel sizing is a broken system (Richards, 2019). Hence, we want you to redesign Outland’s product levels (core, augmented and actual) and recommend product strategies to improve customers’ online shopping experience. 2. How can marketing support Outland’s customers through the difficult process of buying jeans online? Distribution Challenge In fashion industry, the perception of the buying experience itself has changed. The focus is no longer on the brand and the values it embodies, but on the delivery of the product (Capeci, 2019). This implies that, in converting an interest into a purchase, distribution takes on particular importance. However, the challenge faced by Outland is to stay true to their sustainability values. That is, deliver products with minimum footprint and labour exploitation. Hence, redesign distribution strategy for Outland to address their third challenge. 3. How can Outland enhance consumers’ e-shopping experience but also reduce their environmental footprint and eliminate labour exploitation in product delivery? Promotion Challenge The fashion industry has organically attracted social media influencers and fashion influencers who use their large social media following to promote brands. According to Adweek, social media influencer industry is set to reach $10 billion in worth by 2020. Fashion brands are willing to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. Other networks like Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok have their own set of influencers with different demographics. Although fashion influencers serve as a reference point for design and style, Outland wishes to use influencers in a different way. They have a unique brand story to educate customers about labour exploitation in garment industry and creating social impact through fashion. Hence, their fourth marketing mix challenge is promoting Outland on social media and using the right social media influencers to tell their story. 4. How can Outland use social media and social media influencers to create seasonless content and educate consumers about social injustice and sustainability issues in fashion industry?

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References Alliance, A. F. W. (2018). Gender Based Violence in the H&M Garment Supply Chain: Workers Voices From the Global Supply Chain, A Report to the ILO 2018. In: Available online, Global Labor Justice Website: https://www …. Bianchi, F., Dupreelle, P., Krueger, F., Seara, J., Watten, D., & Willersdorf, S. (2020). https://www.bcg.com/enFashion’s Big Reset. Retrieved from au/publications/2020/fashion-industry-reset-covid Capeci, F. (2019). The challenges of the future fashion e-commerce. Retrieved from https://www.contentintelligence.net/en/ci/the-challenges-of-the-future-fashion-ecommerce Hermann, S. (2017). A new textile economy: redesigning fashion’s future. Retrieved from https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/A-NewTextiles-Economy_Full-Report.pdf Nova, S. (2012). Apparel industry outsourcing costs garment workers' lives in Bangladesh. The Guardian.[Accessed 15 December 2017]. Available from http://www. guardian. co. uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/13/apparelindustry-outsourcing-garment-workersbangladesh. Outland Denim. (2020). Outland Denim Sustainability Report. Retrieved from Gold Coast, Australia: Richards, K. (2019). The system is broken: Mode-to-measure fashion brands are looking to solve fashion’s size inclusivity problem. Retrieved from https://www.glossy.co/fashion/the-system-is-broken-made-to-measure-fashionbrands-are-looking-to-solve-fashions-size-inclusivity-problem/ Riddselius, C. (2010). Fashion victims- a report on sandblasted denim. Retrieved from Sweden: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2115&context=glo baldocs Walk Free Foundation. (2020). Protecting People in a Pandemic: Urgent collaboration is needed to protect vulnerable workers and prevent exploitation. Retrieved from https://cdn.minderoo.org/content/uploads/2020/04/30211819/Walk-Free-FoundationCOVID-19-Report.pdf

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